RALEIGH — Campbell Law School Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced the addition of four legal and advocacy leaders to the law school’s Board of Visitors.
The two-year terms for North Carolina’s First Lady Kristin Cooper ’82, Raleigh City Attorney Robin Tatum, N.C. Courts Director McKinley Wooten and 2019 Top Gun and attorney Tatiana Terry ’19 begin in August 2020. They join other industry leaders on the BOV currently chaired by Hoyt Tessener ’88 of the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin.
Cooper, who has worked extensively to improve the well-being of children in North Carolina, will bring that drive to the Board, Dean Leonard said. A former staff attorney for the legislatures of Oklahoma and North Carolina, Cooper later became a guardian ad litem in Wake County. Through her advocacy efforts, she has worked to improve issues involving foster care, child abuse and neglect, child hunger and literacy in North Carolina in her role as First Lady. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and a 1982 graduate of Campbell Law School.
Since 2018, Tatum has served as the Raleigh City Attorney. Starting in private practice focused on local government, land and zoning law, she became a specialist in these areas. In 2014, she began her public service career as the Asheville City Attorney until her move back to Raleigh. She earned an undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University and a law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1990.
Wooten was named the director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC) in March 2020. He previously served as the interim director since 2019. Wooten has held other positions in North Carolina government including the deputy director of the Department of Administration and inspector general at the North Carolina Department of Justice. A native of Kinston, Wooten earned an undergraduate degree from Morehouse College and a law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1991.
Terry is an attorney at Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo LLP in Raleigh. An outstanding and all-star advocate while at Campbell Law, she was the winner of the 2019 Top Gun Mock Trial Competition; the first African-American and third woman to win the prestigious competition. She and her teammate also won the 2019 International Client Consultation Championship while representing the United States. A 2016 graduate of North Carolina State University, Terry is a 2019 graduate of Campbell Law.
Four first-year Campbell Law students — the recipients of the law school’s highly competitive, full-tuition scholarships — will also join the board this year as ex-officio members. Those students are Matthew Darby, the Janette Soles Nelson Public Service Scholar; LeAnne McAbee, the Ben and Patrice Thompson Achievement Scholar; Corey Gross, the Cheshire Schneider Advocacy Scholar; and Nathaniel Bowers, the Leary and Joy Davis Leadership Scholar.
Campbell Law’s Board of Visitors helps the dean, faculty and staff develop strategic planning, launch new efforts around the law school and community and often act as a think-tank for many of the projects undertaken throughout the academic year.
“With a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences from the law, government, nonprofit organizations and business development, the 2020-21 Campbell Law School Board of Visitors will be a forceful and thought-provoking group,” Dean Leonard said.
Learn more about the Board of Visitors at this link.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 4,200 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2019, Campbell Law celebrated 40 years of graduating legal leaders and 10 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.